Stood Up
by Kogane Shoujo
Summary: Sakura waits for Sasuke... but he never shows. Right now, she needs comforting from her friend more thn anything... and he's there, arms wide open. Secong chapter to "Rendezvous" in the story "I'm Here" NaruSaku


**Chapter 2**

**"Stood Up"**

The Cheshire moon flew across the sky, as minutes grew to hours... still no Sasuke. Losing hope, Sakura looked for some one to walk by. She got lucky, and a bald-headed, middle aged man walked by. Seeing how sketchy he looked, Sakura was a bit hesitant about asking him the time... but he was most likely the only living soul she'd see tonight.

The man was surprised to hear a woman's voice at this time of night in such a location, and was even more surprised to see that the girl stepping out of the shadows was almost two feet smaller than her... with pink hair, no less...

"Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?" He looked at her suspiciously.

"What are you, a hooker? It's almost midnight. Get a watch..." With one more glance at her, he walked away.

That certainly threw Sakura off... a _hooker? _She began wondering if her dress was a little risque...

_It's only because I'm out this late, _she told herself. Yes, the dress showed off a _little _cleavage (not much to work with here, people), but she _was _going on a date, right?

Wrong... the guy said it was almost midnight. They were supposed to meet _four _hours ago...

Tears stung at her eyes... an awful lump collected in her throat. But, no... she wasn't going to cry. How pathetic would she look? Everyone would know she got stood up.... suddenly, she started feeling ridiculous. What was she thinking, trying to look nice? There was _no dress in the world _that could make her look _cute _even with her flat chest, freaky pink hair, and gigantic forehead. Heat rose up her cheeks as she realized just how _stupid _she looked. A little girl trying to fill _this _dress...

She took off her heels and sat down on the floor. She'd been holding back her tears... but then was encouraged to cry by the sky. It began raining.

_Fuck, _she thought, _just when I..._

Her breath hitched... a tear escaped... then another... then another... then more, and before she knew it, tears were cascading down her face. She was full-out bawling now.

Okay, now she really did look like a hooker, laying there in that skimpy dress, in the gutter, crying her eyes out.

And then... she felt a hand on her shoulder. Oh, great, some body required her services... problem was, she wasn't open for business right now...

"What's a pretty little lady like you doin' out in the gutters so late? It's raining..."

She wanted to kick the person in the balls and flick them off, tell them to get the hell away, but... their touch was warm, and gentle, and the tone they had in their voice wasn't arrogant at all. It sounded actually concerned. Had she heard right? This rain was awful loud... She looked up.

Sakura blinked the rain out of her eyes... she couldn't see the person's face... vaguely...

"Naruto...?" He smiled.

"Sakura-chan... what's up? What're you doing out here so late... in the rain?" He seemed a little freaked. She wiped her eyes...

"I..."

He helped her up to her feet.

"Seriously, what the hell are you doing? That dress... you're not a hooker, are you?"

Sakura glared. But then she almost laughed when she saw his face... he was completely serious.

"Naruto! I'm not a hooker! I was supposed to--" she stopped. This wasn't the kind of stuff she wanted to dump on Naruto. He continued to look at her... but she broke the gaze.

"Well... you look really cute, Sakura-chan..." She scoffed. Cute? Not with _this _body and _this _forehead.

He ruffled her hair a little.

"Look at that. You even did your hair!" She couldn't help but smile. Naruto was a warm spirit, and made her fell better, if even a little.

"Here. I'll walk you home."

She nodded.

-

-

-

-

The rain died down a little, but the streets were still wet. Sakura caught Naruto staring.

"What?"

He blinked at her.

"Huh? Oh, sorry.. I... I just... Sakura-chan, you look so great... um, what's the occasion?"

Sakura turned away... her voice was low.

"Uhhh, I had a date, with Sasuke-kun, but, um, he never showed... must have forgotten..."

Naruto was silent for a while, then huffed.

"Hmph. I tell you, Sakura-chan, if it were _me _going on a date with you, I wouldn't have forgotten."

There was a spiteful tone to his voice... Naruto and Sakura _were _very close. So close, in fact, that if it weren't for Sasuke, Naruto really _would _be on that date with Sakura.

They had even kissed once. Long ago... two years. But while Naruto took it very seriously, Sakura simply laughed it off. They were drunk, after all, and she wrote it off as a "spur of the moment" kind of thing. Which disappointed Naruto... he felt that they were _so close... _close to what, though, he dared not say. A mention of the possibility of them being a couple to Sakura would result in her mocking him. "We were never meant to be anything more than friends, Naruto," she said once. But if that were true, why did they kiss? Friends don't kiss like that.

"Here we are," Naruto said finally.

"Thanks, Naruto. I appreciate you saving me like... heh, if you hadn't come along, I think I'd be there tomorrow morn..." she trailed off as they both laid eyes on what was inside the house.

Sasuke.

He didn't even _try _to show up.

Sakura stared.

"Sakura-chan..."

He stood her up on _purpose. _She stood there for the longest time, staring... Naruto put his hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. He grit his teeth.

Ever since they had gotten Sakura back, Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be at each others throats. Even worse than before. Reason being, on the second day, Sasuke asked Sakura to be his girlfriend. It crushed Naruto... though Sakura couldn't have been happier. Of course, he would never let Sakura see how distraught he was.

He avoided the couple... and Sasuke would give Naruto the worst looks. Looks that said "I win." It was an awful blow to Naruto's pride. He wanted to wrap his fingers around Sasuke's throat, punch him to death. Kill the bastard. But Sakura... he couldn't do it. He _wouldn't _do it. Sasuke thought he had the upper hand. That he was the stronger one, even though Naruto was the one who had defeated him and dragged him back to Konoha. But he had something Naruto didn't have, and never would.

Sakura.

So Naruto went on pretending he was happy for her. He even helped her celebrate her and Sasuke's anniversary... even though the physical pain of shinobi battle greatly paled in comparison. And there was Sasuke again, with that look... that god damned look...

Sakura shook her head, as if in denial. There was a deep pain in Naruto's heart... that Sasuke had the best thing in the world, had Sakura, yet still chose to do _this._

Ungrateful bastard.

"Um, Sakura-chan, I--"

"Naruto... can I stay with you tonight...?" she asked monotonously, her face blank. It threw him off... heat crept up his cheeks. But she had the rug pulled out from under her... and he hadn't intended to let her fall.

"Sure, Sakura-chan. C'mon..."

A hand around her shoulder, Naruto walked off with Sakura.

**Author's Notes:**

Please excuse the grammar... I don't think well when I'm listening to music :/

I'll try to save it with the spell check, but I'm not making any promises... please review! I have no other way of telling if I'm any good or not unless you tell me!

Thanks for reading :)

(P.S. I'll maybe do a background on Naruto and Sakura's kiss, as aforementioned in the story, you know, when they were drunk?)


End file.
